My first traditional wedding shoot in Taiwan

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of shooting my first traditional wedding in Taipei, Taiwan. I've photographed hundreds of Taiwan couples weddings before here in Okinawa but never a traditional Taiwanese wedding so I had very little idea of what to expect going into the wedding. One of the main reasons I left my full time job as a wedding photographer at Watabe Wedding was to be able to expand to shooting overseas weddings and experience how different weddings were in other countries. So far in my first year running my own photography company I've had the pleasure of shooting overseas weddings in Australia, Taiwan, Hawaii, California and of course many here in Japan.
For this first traditional Taiwanese wedding I had no 2nd shooter or assistants so I just had to go by "must shoot" list and stay on my toes the entire day as to not miss any of the important moments.

Im not really much of an early morning person but our Taiwan wedding had me starting my shoot at 5:30am at the grooms house! After he was ready we took a ride in a convoy of Mercedes Benz's over to meet the bride and her parents. I had fun although still half asleep standing up through the sun roof of the Benz to shoot the grooms car following behind us.

Over at the brides house here Mum was helping her get ready. 

As the groom arrived fire crackers were thrown out of the car onto the street.

These are super loud! Especially when its still early and relatively quite in the morning. 

As the groom gets out of the car he's met by a young boy offering oranges. 

The groom hands him money in a good fortune envelope. 

Next the bride and groom are whisked off back to the grooms house to 

meet with his parents. 

More fire crackers as the bridal party arrives.

The bride receives more offerings as she arrives 

at the grooms house. 

Next its time for the veil up, kiss and some prayers to their ancestors. 

Time to meet kneel before the brides parents and ask for their 

blessings for their marriage.

This is a very emotional time as they speak to their parents.

Money offerings to the couple from the parents. 

Rounding up the wedding ceremony at around 10am.
Now for a little relax time before the big reception party in the evening.
The catch is the bride has to stay in her wedding dress all day until her
first dress change at the party. 

Now at the reception at a ritzy hotel in downtown Taipei the bride has some finishing touches to her hair and make up before the party. 

They had these 3 ladies playing violin for all the guests as they enter the reception hall. 

They were really good! 

Balloons hugging the ceiling at the entrance to the party hall 

which seated the 400 or so guests.  

Finally the bride enters with her father passing her

 over to her new husband

cheers!

The drinking and celebrations continue on until late at night. My job is done at least the shooting part. Now I head back to Japan to edit up all the images for the couple. Im just glad I managed to capture all of the important bits and experience my first traditional Taiwanese wedding.

 Congratulations Eric & Karen and thanks for having me photograph your special day!